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Liberty Township's tea party is asking for tax-exempt status as a social welfare organization, but Binik-Thomas claims he's had nothing to do with that group.

He said the IRS questions are worrying to him.

"Are they trying to intimidate and slow me down as an individual?" Binik-Thomas said. "Are they trying to intimidate and slow down tea party groups across the country?"

The Ohio Liberty Council is refusing to answer IRS questions it considers intrusive and burdensome.

"What bothers the tea party groups is that we all applied in 2010 for this status," said Tom Zawistowski, president of the Ohio Liberty Group. "We were supposed to hear back in 90 days. We don't hear anything for a year and a half, and then all of a sudden, this election year, we all get letters at the same time. It just seems a little too convenient."

The IRS declined to comment on the matter because the applications are pending, but a legal expert said he thinks the government has not gone too far.

"What the IRS is trying to do is figure out how much of their activity is about supporting or opposing candidates," said Lloyd Hitoski Mayer, associate dean at Notre Dame Law School. "Whether that's an appropriate question depends on whether the IRS had information that he's connected to the group that's applying."

Two Ohio Republicans, Sen. Rob Portman and Rep. Jean Schmidt, are questioning the IRS about the dispute.

But if the government decides the tea parties' primarily support political candidates, they won't be granted tax exempt status and they'll have to reveal their donors  as the Cincinnati Tea Party already does.